1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cooling apparatus for use with light emitting diodes (LEDs), and more particularly to an LED lamp cooling apparatus using a pulsating heat pipe for improving heat dissipation.
2. Description of Related Art
With the continuing development of scientific technology and the raise of people's consciousness of energy saving, LEDs have been widely used in the field of illumination due to their small volume in size and high efficiency. It is well known that LEDs generate heat when they emit light. If this heat is not quickly removed, these LEDs may overheat, and thus their work efficiency and service life can be significantly reduced. This is particularly true when LEDs are used in an LED lamp in which the LEDs are arranged side-by-side in large density.
A traditional method of solving the heat dissipation problem is using a plurality of cooling fins attached to a base of the lamp. The heat generated by the LEDs is conducted to the cooling fins via the base, and then dissipated into ambient air by the cooling fins. However, this method is only suitable for low power consumption LED lamps, and is not suitable for high power consumption LED lamps. Another method of heat dissipation is using a conventional heat pipe or a loop heat pipe. The heat dissipation efficiency of these heat pipes, however, is limited by their low heat flux per unit area, and consequently these heat pipes are easy to dry out when subjected to a large amount of heat.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an LED lamp cooling apparatus which can overcome the above-mentioned disadvantages.